Despite what Mother Nature has thrown at us these past 10 days, many of us have managed to get out onto our course and play in surprisingly good conditions. Apparently we were one of the few courses in Wellington to be open both days last weekend, a tribute to its design and location, and to the huge effort put in my Matt and Pat last Friday to neutralise the worst of the storm debris. And despite some pretty heavy rain last night, the prospects for the rest of the day are for clearing weather and drying winds so at this stage, we expect to be going ahead with the Ken and Rose Rigarlsford tournament tomorrow morning. We currently have a field of 35 and will tee off from 9.34 from various tees on the front nine. Entry is free and a trophy for each of the men and the women is up for grabs, along with prize vouchers. It is not too late to enter – simply ring or email the club – we hope to put out a draw later today.

Working Bee Thank You

Many thanks to those who came out to the course on Tuesday morning at short notice to help complete the clearing of debris from the fairways. With Matt and Pat having already tended to the front nine, the volunteers raked up several trailer loads of debris off the 14^th, 15^th and 16^thfairways, just in time for the Tuesday women’s club 18 holers to enjoy a clear round. Many thanks also to Sara who fed the volunteers freshly made scones and sandwiches as a thankyou lunch.

Internet Outages

These past couple of days the club had been without internet connection for much of the day, preventing players from printing out or entering scorecards. Apparently Meridian are taking advantage of school holidays to do some rewiring work around Makara school, from where we get out internet feed. Unfortunately though, by turning off power at the school the internet repeater station in the South Makara Valley that we connect to loses its connection. If ever you cant print out a score card, take a blank one from the table opposite the downstairs printer and record on it your membership number and the date you played, as well as the colour of the tees you played from. Return it to the shop if they are open, or put it into the scorecard boxes on the outside wall under the balcony - dont put it into the slot you would normally return your cards into after having entered your score into the downstairs screen.

Upcoming Events

The qualifying round of the Westward Ho Shield will be played next weekend on Sunday 30^thJuly. As of today we only have 8 entries on the entry form on the noticeboard in the downstairs foyer. The Westward Ho is one of our premier singles match play events for men and is a great opportunity to start honing your match play skills for the club championships which start in September. However, unlike the club championships, the Westward Ho is played on handicap off the white tees. The qualifying round though will be played on a best nett basis with the top 16 best nett scorers proceeding to the knock out rounds the following Sunday. Enter by adding your name to the entry form on the noticeboard in the downstairs foyer or ring/email the club.

Monthly Medal Results

With only one entrant on 1 July when this month’s medal event was originally scheduled to be played, the match committee decided to give members a second chance the following Saturday when the weather was much more conducive. And proving his win the previous week was no fluke, despite being the only entrant, Erich Bucher won the Blue division with a net 71, one stroke better than runner up Keith Atkinson. Well done Erich, you have a rare distinction of winning 2 monthly medals in the same month. Philip Pigou won the white division, also with a net 71, 2 better than runner up Paul Hawkes.

Wednesday Club

Wednesday Club results for 19 July

The sunny morning deteriorated into a rather cold and bleak, wintry afternoon for the 19 players who competed in the 18 hole stableford competition and 6 nine holers who followed. In particular we welcomed Horn Dim who made the most of a break from his other commitments to join us, and, despite the challenging conditions, showed us all how it should be done, shooting an excellent 77 off the stick for 39 points, to comfortably win the 18 hole stableford competition. Very well played Horn! Patrick Cordue, the only other player to play to his handicap, was the best of the rest, with 36 points, followed by John Markham (35) and Martin Leung (34) who also won golf balls. There was much stiffer competition for the dreaded "bunny" prize, between Chris Pearce, Kevin Corrin and Gerd Warnke all with the same rather dismal but hard earned score, with Gerd the lucky one to get the usual golf ball for his efforts. Graham Presland took out the prize for the "Nearest the Pin" on the 4th hole but sadly, didn't sink his putt for a two, so paid the usual penalty. Just to show that it could be done, the only twos scored were both on that hole, by Horn Dim and Doug Shearer.

Raffles were won by Satish Chandra (4), Dave Burton (12) and Martin Leung (8).

Committee Update

The Committee held its monthly meeting on Monday and can report

· The men’s bathroom upgrade has been progressing well, but has been held up temporarily awaiting the plasterer before the next stage can proceed

· The new drains that Matt and Pat put in recently have proved their worth in the recent rains

· The tree that was starting to block the white tee on the 12^th hole has now been removed, not only opening up the vista for those about to tee off, but also for those enjoying the view from the Laurie Cook donated seat on the tee block

· The lower branches of that small conifer on the left hand side of the 15^th fairway that was like a magnet for some of us have now been removed, enabling us to find our balls (and maybe even play them)

· The next major project for our green keepers is to replace some more of our bridges which are getting close to the end of their lives

· We are in the process of finalising the recruitment of an apprentice green keeper who is due to start next week

50^th Anniversary Feb/March 2018

Ideas are starting to come in as to how best to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the founding of Karori Golf Club Inc in 1968 – keep them coming. As a lead up to this occasion we will start to include historical snippets in the Friday Flash, sourced from Four to the Fore that was produced by David Sercombe in 2005 to commemorate 100 years of golf in Karori. The first incarnation of the Karori Golf Club was on land that was leased from what was then (ie 1905) part of Campbell’s Farm through which Campbell Street now runs. This incarnation was though rather short lived, with the Campbells giving the club 12 month’s notice the following year to quit the site so that it could be subdivided for housing. Tune in next week for what happened next, or purchase a copy of Four to the Fore from the shop for $20.

Happy golfing, play safely,

Your KGC Committee